Colgate Blanks #2 Ferris State; Ends Bulldogs’ 16-Game Unbeaten Streak
By Matt Faulkner
(Minneapolis – Jan. 4, 2014) After winning a shootout against top-ranked Minnesota last night, the Raiders won the 2014 Mariucci Classic with a 3-0 shutout over No. 2 Ferris State.
Colgate (7-9-3) got another great start from rookie goalie Charlie Finn as he earned his first collegiate shutout with 19 saves.
Darcy Murphy added his 10th goal of the season, while Spiro Goulakos and Mike McCann also scored for the Raiders. Brett Corkey was the point leader for Colgate with a pair of assists.
It was the second shutout of the season against the Bulldogs and the win ended Ferris State’s 16-game unbeaten streak, which was the longest in the nation.
“I was really proud of our effort this weekend,” head coach Don Vaughan said. “I thought defensively tonight we played a sound game. Our energy was good again and we didn’t give up a lot of second and third opportunities and that is what we wanted to accomplish.”
Ferris State (15-2-2) saw C.J. Motte make 26 saves between the pipes, including 12 in the second period. The Bulldogs struggled on the power play, going 0-for-5 with the extra skater.
In the opening 20 minutes, both teams looked to be a little tentative and didn’t want to make a mistake, which resulting in only 10 shots on goal with six by the Bulldogs. Colgate sustained some pressure in the offensive zone in the opening minutes, resulting in a few chances. The best came off the stick of Tim Harrison, but Motte was up to the task with a toe save.
The Raiders came alive in the second period with a pair of goals with one coming on the power play. Goulakos put the Raiders on top 1-0 with his second goal of the season and first on the power play. He ripped a shot from the point that Motte couldn’t get a glove on and the Raiders led 1-0. Tyson Spink made the pass to the captain and Mike Borkowski added a helper as well for his team-leading 13th of the year.
The team got the lift it needed and it came from the captain.
“He is our leader and the guys were really happy to see him score and today is six months to the day he had his last chemotherapy treatment,” Vaughan said. “We know that it’s out of system now and we are seeing him get back to the way we know he can play.”
The second tally of the period came off a great deflection from McCann. Corkey kept the puck in the offensive zone at the blueline and fired a wrister between the circles. McCann redirected it from the slot. The puck rang off the post and crossbar and into the net for the 2-0 advantage.
Colgate kept attacking in the third period and didn’t sit back on the Bulldogs. The Raiders went up 3-0 on its second power play goal on the night. This time it came from Murphy off of a Corkey shot from the left point. The puck hit off of Motte’s pad and Murphy swooped in and flipped a backhander into the back of the net for the three-goal lead.
From there, Finn and the defense finished off the Bulldogs, allowing only six shots in the final frame.
Vaughan stuck with his rookie goaltender after the shootout win over No. 1 Minnesota and it paid off.
“Charlie made some key stops and he made it look a little easy at times,” Vaughan added. “He made a great blocker save in the third period when we were up by two and if that went in, the momentum could have changed. He was very solid in net.”
The Raiders have known they were playing in the Mariucci Classic for a couple of years and viewed it as a way to possibly define their young team.
“We had this weekend circled on the calendar for a long time,” Vaughan said. “It can help define a team a little bit and we are a young team that is still trying to figure out who were are and a weekend like this can go a long way in giving our guys confidence.”
The Raiders will face its third ranked team in a row next weekend with a visit from No. 20 Vermont at Starr Rink on Jan. 11.
Two Second Half Runs Come Up Short
Raiders Fall to Bucknell 68-57 Despite Outshooting Bison in 2nd Half
By Kat Castner
(Lewisburg, Pa. – Jan. 5, 2014) A second half surge for the Colgate men’s basketball team fell short here Sunday afternoon as Bucknell notched a 68-57 victory.
“You know coming into this place, into this arena, against Coach (Dave) Paulsen’s program, that they are going to be ready to play,” Colgate head coach Matt Langel said. “They aren’t accustomed to losing, let alone losing a couple in a row, let alone losing at home to start Patriot League play. And they were ready to play today. A lot of credit goes to Bucknell for stepping up and making shots to which we did not. Obviously that had something to do with their defense, especially in the first half.
“In the second half we did a little bit better job. We’re not just a 3-point shooting team; that’s not our goal. Although it’s been a big part of our early season success, we try to take what the defense gives us. And in the second half that’s what we did in order to get ourselves back in the game. But when you dig yourself that big of a hole, in league play, on the road, it’s really hard to get all the way back.”
The Raiders started slow in the opening 20 minutes and found themselves down 40-24 at the break. But an 11-0 run to start the second half cut the Bison advantage to five at the 14:29 mark. The Raiders would continue to pressure Bucknell, getting the deficit down to two with less than four minutes to play. But five makes at the charity strip from the Bison in the last minute and a half of play ultimately secured them a win.
Colgate (6-7, 0-2 PL) received 15 points from sophomore AustinTillotson after he went 4-of-6 from the floor. Damon Sherman-Newsome and Ethan Jacobs added nine points each, while Murphy Burnatowski, Matt McMullen and Luke Roh all recorded eight points. Roh also posted a team-high six boards in the loss and Sherman-Newsomenotched the Raiders’ lone 3-pointer.
Overall the Raiders shot 43.8 percent from the floor and a season-low 8.3 percent from downtown, making only one of their 12 attempts (also a season-low). Colgate outscored the Bison 33-28 in the second 20 minutes but could not overcome the first-half deficit. The Raiders held the slight edge on points in the paint as well, outscoring Bucknell 32-30.
Bucknell (6-7, 1-1 PL) came out on fire to start the game and saw Chris Hass go for a career-high 26 points. He went 10-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-8 from long range. Dom Hoffman and Cameron Ayers also registered double figures, finishing the game with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Steven Kaspar led all players with a career-high 10 rebounds and game-high seven assists.
The Bison jumped out to a quick start, hitting 53.8 percent from the floor and 50 percent from long distance in the first half. The Raiders on the other hand struggled a little, shooting 36 percent from the floor and a mere 11 percent from downtown.
Five minutes into the contest, Bucknell had already drained three of its seven treys to take an early 13-7 advantage.
The Raiders responded, however, as Sherman-Newsome make it a three-point game at 15-12 with less than 14 minutes to play in the half.
Bucknell would then go on an 8-0 run, creating an 11-point deficit between the teams. But a Roh pull-back jumper in the paint ended the Raider drought, which was a little more than 6½ minutes.
The Bison took a 16-point lead into the locker room, thanks to a 12-6 run to finish the half.
Colgate started the second half much like Bucknell did throughout the first, on a run, an 11-0 run to be precise, cutting the deficit to five at 40-35 with 14:29 left to play. Jacobs recorded four points during that stretch.
After seeing Bucknell extend its lead back to eight at 45-37, two quick jumpers from Roh and Tillotson pulled Colgate within four with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Over the course of the next 7½ minutes, both teams exchanged baskets until the Raiders went on a 6-0 run with less than four minutes to play, making it a two-point game at 55-53.
Unfortunately, that would be the closest Colgate would come as the Bison finished the contest on a 13-4 run, including five of seven makes at the free throw line in the final minute and a half of action.
The Raiders are back on the court Wednesday when they travel to Holy Cross to face off with the Crusaders in another Patriot League matchupat 7 p.m.
Josie Stockill tallied 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Colgate Sunday afternoon against Bucknell. (Photo by Bob Cornell)
Stockill Career High in Sunday Loss
Sophomore Scores 17 but Bucknell Blisters Nets in 88-72 Decision
By John Painter
(Hamilton, NY – Jan. 5, 2014) Bucknell placed two players over the 20-point mark and rode a hot-shooting first half to an 88-72 victory over Colgate hereSunday.
The Raiders, now 4-9 overall and 0-2 in the Patriot League, were playing their first home game in 32 days – which may have been one of the reasons the Bison appeared just as familiar with the Cotterell Court nets as Colgate did.
Bucknell shot 55 percent from the floor over the first 20 minutes en route to a 46-33 halftime edge. In Thursday’s opening round of conference play, Bucknell scored only 40 points for the entire game in a loss at American.
Sunday’s game got away when the Bison outscored Colgate 23-9 over the final 7:45 of the first half, turning a 24-23 Raiders lead into the 13-point halftime deficit. Bucknell added insult to injury by starting the second half on a 7-0 run, completing a 30-9 spurt.
“They started trying to jam the ball inside,” Colgate head coach Nicci Hays Fort said. “They were doing a great job attacking us with the high-low. We didn’t do a great job of defending the high-low and didn’t do a good job on rotation.
“It was probably my fault in the first half for not changing up the defense sooner because (Claire) DeBoer and (Audrey) Dotson really dominated us. We didn’t have an answer for them.”
DeBoer finished with a career-high 24 points and Dotson added 20 for her fifth 20-point game this season.
“Dotson and DeBoer did a great job of sealing, posting and finishing, quite honestly,” Hays Fort said. “We didn’t do a good job with everything from our ball-pressure to our schemes and missed assignments.
“That one run is all it took.”
Foul Trouble
Colgate not only was still missing the services of the injured Kelly Reid for the third straight game, but in this one key guard Mariah Jones played only 11 of the 40 minutes because of foul trouble throughout.
Jones, who averages 25 minutes, played just five minutes in the first half before fouling twice, and then was whistled for No. 3 just 21 seconds after the break. She scored all 10 of her points in the final5:48 of the second period.
Both Jones and Carole Harris fouled out for the Raiders.
A bright spot for Colgate was a career-high 17 points from Josie Stockill. The New Zealand sophomore had her parents and brother in the stands and was 6-of-10 from the floor, 5-of-6 from the line, with seven rebounds (five offensive).
“Josie did a great job by focusing and finishing,” Hays Fort said. “She was very active on the offensive glass – we’ve been challenging her to be active. Obviously it was a much better performance from Josie down low and we need that from her every game now.”
Bucknell’s largest lead was 75-52 with 7:53 remaining. The Raiders pulled within 12 points on four different occasions in the final 2½ minutes but couldn’t come any closer.
“We got better throughout the game,” Hays Fort said. “In the second half, we really fought to make it difficult for them to get the ball inside and we fought for rebounds. I was proud of them.”
Paige Kriftcher returned to the double-figure scoring column for the third time this season with 11 points, her high since scoring 12 back onNov. 16 at Saint Francis. She was 3-of-6 from downtown.
Taylor Returns
Harris had eight points and six boards, while Lauryn Kobiela scored eight and dished out five assists. Scoring five points each were Jackie Hudepohl (11 the last two games), Kathryn Taylor and Missy Repoli, who added a career-high four assists. Catherine Lewis made one 3-pointer.
For Taylor, Sunday marked her first action this season after an extended rehab assignment. In just four minutes, she was 1-of-2 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line to go with three boards. Taylor’s five points scored were her most since scoring six against Holy Cross nearly two years ago.
In addition to Bucknell’s top two scorers, guard Shelby Romine added a solid double-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The Bison improved to 6-6 overall and 1-1 in the Patriot League.
Bucknell finished at 48 percent (28-of-58) from the floor to Colgate’s 35 percent (24-of-68). The Raiders were 6-of-24 from 3-point distance, while Bucknell was 4-of-14. Free throws favored Bucknell, which finished 28-of-38 to Colgate’s 18-of-25.
Colgate grabbed a 45-42 rebounding edge but committed 17 turnovers to 15 for the Bison. Points in the paint went Bucknell’s way, 42-18, while Colgate claimed a 26-12 edge in bench scoring.
The Raiders host Holy Cross (10-3, 2-0) in a Wednesday conference matchup. Start time from Cotterell Court is 7 p.m.
Bucknell 88, Colgate 72
Bucknell (6-6, 1-1): Megan McGurk 7, Claire DeBoer 24, Shelby Romine 12, Sheaira Jones 13, Audrey Dotson 20, Claire Maree O’Bryan 2, Katherine Harris 4, Micki Impellizeri 3, Sune Swart 3. Totals: 28-28-88.
Colgate (4-9, 0-2): Lauryn Kobiela 8, Mariah Jones 10, Catherine Lewis 3, Josie Stockill 17, Carole Harris 8, Jackie Hudepohl 5, Kathryn Taylor 5, Paige Kriftcher 11, Missy Repoli 5. Totals: 24-18-72.
3-Point Field Goals: Bucknell 4 (Jones 2, McGurk, Romine); Colgate 6 (Kriftcher 3, Jones, Lewis, Repoli).
Halftime: Bucknell 46-33.